Media disc vending or rental kiosks (henceforth collectively “rental kiosks”), such as the Coinstar Redbox™ machines and the Blockbuster Express™ video kiosk made by NCR Corporation, the assignee of the present application, have become ubiquitous with the www.redbox.com web site claiming at least 23,000 locations and a billion rentals as of September 2010. Such kiosks typically offer hundreds of titles which are available to browse through a liquid crystal display (LCD) touch screen. Such browsing can take several minutes resulting in the formation of a line of customers. As a result, the business of customers unwilling to wait may be lost. Furthermore, customers who already know what title they are going to rent or are simply trying to return a disc may have a lengthy wait during a busy period. Similarly, if the returning customer has waited to the very end of the rental period, that customer may end up returning the rental late thereby incurring a late charge if he or she has to wait longer than expected. Such experiences may create an undesirable rental experience.
Other aspects of such big box kiosks are that they are relatively complex to manufacture, assemble and maintain, heavy to ship, and have a substantial footprint requiring a relatively large floor space which can be significant in a retail environment, or any environment in which floor space is at a premium. For example, in markets in many Asian cities, smaller vending machines are highly preferable.